A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to input devices for computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of touch sensitive input devices in computer systems.
B. Related Art
Input devices for computerized systems such as keyboards, touchpads, trackballs, game controllers and mice, often include one or more auxiliary controls such as joysticks, touchpads, trackballs, headsets, microphones, buttons, knobs, rocker switches, triggers, sliders, wheels, biometric sensors, etc. Auxiliary controls may be used alone or in conjunction with input devices and other auxiliary controls.
Most input devices create input signals using transducers, or switches. Switches are typically found in the buttons of mice, joysticks, and game controllers, as well as in the keys of keyboards. Transducers are found in mice and trackballs and create electrical signals based on the movement of balls in those devices or by optically detecting movement of the device across a surface. Transducers are also found in headsets where they convert speech signals into electrical signals. Touchpads create input signals using sensors that provide an electrical signal when the user contacts the touchpad that signal including the location within the touchpad where contact is made.
Although it is desirable to increase the amount of information that an input device and its auxiliary controls can provide to the computer, the number of transducers and switches that can be added to an input device is limited by the user's ability to remember all of the functions that a particular transducer or switch performs and by the practicalities of the available or at least feasibly available real estate for the switches and transducers on the input device (e.g., keyboard or mouse). The ability of a user to determine the functionality of each auxiliary control is also generally limited to a static label on or near the auxiliary control, activating each auxiliary control, clicking a button to select a menu option to request help file or reading a user manual. Furthermore, the functionality of an auxiliary control may vary from one game or application to another game or application. Thus, a static label on an auxiliary control is of little value when the function and status of the input device and its auxiliary controls change from application to application. In this regard, even if a user learns the assignment of the buttons and other controls in one game or application, another game or application may assign the same buttons or controls different features. Similarly, the status of the feature controlled by the auxiliary control generally can only be determined by activating the control.
Thus, there is a need to provide a user with the ability to better determine the functionality and status of auxiliary controls regardless of their context, (e.g., active application or game).
To address this need, indicators such as LEDs or small LCDs may be integrated directly with the input device and its auxiliary controls to provide feedback or state information. However, association of LEDs or LCDs with each auxiliary control increases both the amount of power consumed and the cost of the input device. Furthermore, LEDs and LCDs have very limited output forms and are separated from the main display (e.g., a computer monitor) causing the user to constantly have to look away from the screen and at the auxiliary control to determine the functionality or status of the control. Such constant shifts of attention can mentally tire the user as he or she is forced to repetitively reacquire the current context. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a more efficient, convenient and/or cost effective way to determine the functionality and/or status of auxiliary controls of input devices in a computer system.